There had been no legal sentence passed upon Stephen; but the Roman authorities were bribed by large sums of money to make no investigation of the case. Saul seemed to be imbued with a frenzied zeal at the scene of Stephen’s trial and death. He seemed to be angered at his own secret convictions that Stephen was honored of God at the very period when he was dishonored of men. He continued to persecute the church of God, hunting them down, seizing them in their houses, and delivering them up to the priests and rulers for imprisonment and death. His zeal in carrying forward the persecution was a terror to the Christians in Jerusalem. The Roman authorities made no special effort to stay the cruel work, and secretly aided the Jews in order to conciliate them, and to secure their favor.{LP 20.1}

Der blev ikke udsagt en lovlig dom over Stefanus, men de romerske myndigheder blev bestukket af store pengesummer for at ikke undersøge sagen. Saulus syntes at være gennemsyret af en vanvittig iver for Stefanus trængsler og død. Han lod til at være enig med sin egen skjulte overbevisning om at Stefanus blev æret af Gud, over den periode hvor han blev vanæret af mennesker. -Han fortsatte med at forfølge Guds kirke, fange dem ind, arrestere dem i deres hjem, og overgive dem til præsterne og herskerne for fængsling og død. Hans iver for at gennemføre forfølgelsen var til rædsel for de kristne i Jerusalem. De romerske myndigheder anstrengede ikke særlig for at standse dette grusomme arbejde, og hjalp i det skjulte jøderne, med at vinde dem, og sikre sig deres gunst.